For the past few months, there have been some powerful images circling around the internet depicting scenes of extreme poverty or disaster, while a dozen anonymous onlookers give the horrific scene a thumbs-up. The message is hammered home in the tagline: “Liking isn’t helping. Be a volunteer.”

I’ve seen these images pop up on social media every couple weeks since their appearance in February. Ironically, while Facebook likes may not be directly helping the global poor, it certainly is helping this ad campaign. Without the viral appeal of the images, developed for Crisis Relief Singapore, the call to action would never have been heard.